Notched flap envelope

ABSTRACT

A paper envelope of conventional form comprising a rectangular front face, inwardly folded end flaps, an upwardly folded bottom flap, and a downwardly folded top or closure flap, characterized by a cutout portion in one of the flaps, preferably the bottom flap, which provides a printing area on the front face which is of uniform three thicknesses of paper throughout such area and permits printing of a return address in such area without resort to the make-ready printing procedure.

United States Patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D e32,894 7/1900, Klaber..229/75 1,136,614 4/1915 Rheutan ..229/75 X Klover Mar. 21, 1972 [54]NOTCHED FLAP ENVELOPE 3,017,063 1/1962 Rooney ..229/75 X [72] Inventor:Richard S. mover, Portland Ores. 3,482,765 12/1269 Probst, Jr ..229/75[73] Assignee: Pak-Well Corporation, Denver, Colo. PrimaryExaminer-Donald F. Norton [221 Filed: Oct 27 1969 Attorney-Sheridan,Ross & Fields [2]] Appl. No.: 869,637 [57] ABSTRACT 4 A paper envelopeof coni entionai form comprising a rectan- [52] US. Cl. ..229/68 R,229/75 gular f m f i a dly folded end flaps, an upwardly folded b tt fld a do nwardly folded top or glosure flap [58] Fleld of Search 229/6875; 283/1; 270/1 characterized by a cutout portion in one of the flaps,270/21; 101/53; 93/61; 83/91 1 preferably the bottom flap, whichprovides a printing area on f h t k References Cited the front ace w lch15 of uniform three hlc nesses of paper throughout such area and permitsprinting of a return address in such area without resort to themake'ready printing procedure.

' 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMARZ] I972 INVENTOR RICHARD S.KLOVER ATTORNEYS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the marketing ofenvelopes for ultimate use by a consumer, a practice now exists in whichthe envelope is marketed with the consumers return address informationprinted in the upper left corner of the front face of the envelope. Theconsumer generally prefers that such address be of the same size, thatis, occupy the same area on the envelopes, regardless of envelope size.Moreover, the uniform size of return address effects economics to theconsumer since only one type setup is required for all. While a myriadof envelope constructions have been proposed or used, a widely acceptedconstruction comprises a rectangular front face or wall, a pair ofinwardly folded generally triangular end flaps, a bottom generallyisosceles triangular shaped upwardly folded bottom flap, cemented alongits edges to the end flaps, and a top generally rectangular top orclosure flap adapted to be glued along its longitudinal edge to thebottom and end flaps when the envelope is sealed. The corners of the endflaps are usually rounded, the bottom flap may have a straight portionjoining its side edges and the top flap may depart somewhat from a truerectangle. Regardless of the variations just referred to, the top flapwhen closed overlies portions of the bottom flap and end flaps andproduces an area in the upper corners of the front face which are ofthree thicknesses of paper and a fourth thickness where the top flapoverlies the bottom flap. Ifa portion of a return address on the frontface of the envelope, conventionally in the upper left corner, isprinted in the area of four thicknesses occurring when the flap isclosed as is conventional, this creates printing problems since theprinting type must now be impressed upon an area partly of threethicknesses and another area of four thicknesses. The same problemexists regardless of the number of paper layers whenever the envelopeconstruction requires printing on an area of nonuniform thickness. Sincethis would result in defective printing it has been the practice toemploy a make-ready procedure which involves the use ofa shim or shimsto make the area referred to of uniform thickness which is atime-consuming procedure and adds to the cost of printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention eliminates the make-readyprocedure for envelopes having the same size return address area eventhough the envelopes are of different sizes because when the inventionis applied to envelopes of various sizes, which have a uniformmake-ready area, the need for altering the makeready area on theprinting press is eliminated. By the practice of the invention thenonuniform thickness of paper in the return address area is eliminatedby prefabricating the envelope blanks with a cutout portion in one ofthe flaps, preferable the bottom flap of an envelope having fourthicknesses of paper in the return address area. The elimination of themake-ready procedure for envelopes of different sizes results in aconsiderable saving in the printing costs.

It is thus a principal object of the invention to provide a method forthe elimination of the nonuniform thickness in the return addressprinting area of conventional envelopes of different sizes which have auniform size return address printing area.

The invention is illustrated by its application to an envelope havingfour thicknesses of paper; however, it can be applied to provide auniform thickness return address printing area irrespective of theenvelope thicknesses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a rear elevation of thesubject invention prior to sealing the various flaps.

FIG. 2 is a like elevation with the endflaps sealed to the bottom flap,and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the back of three envelopes of different widthsand lengths with the envelopes of diminishing dimensions superimposedonthe larger envelopes.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawing, andfirst to FIG. 1, envelope 10 comprises a rectangular front wall 12, endflaps l4, l6, bot tom flap l8 and top closure flap 20, all ofconventional form, except that bottom flap 18 is provided with a cutout22. End flaps 14 and 16 are provided with a gummed material 24 on theiroutside surfaces adjacent to their edges for glueing the bottom flap 18to them after they are folded inwardly, and the top closure flap isprovided with like material 24 for sealing it to the other flaps afterthe correspondence or other enclosure has been inserted into theenvelope. FIG. 2 illustrates the envelope withthe end flaps glued to thebottom flap and in condition to receive its enclosure. FIG. 3 showsenvelopes of different sizes conventionally made with the same sizereturn address printing area. I

Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that when the flap 20 is foldedbefore printing in the return address area 26 there will be a uniformprinting area of three thicknesses due to the fact that cutout 22 hasbeen cut in bottom flap 18.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3 showing conventional envelopes A, B andC of different sizes in which a uniform return address printing area 26is used for different size envelopes. It will be noted that although thecutout 22 may vary slightly for different size envelopes, it is alwaysadequate to clear the return address area 26 so that all sections ofarea 26 are of uniform thickness. Difierent size dies are used to makethe cutout for different size envelopes.

The cutout 22 is preferably formed during the fabrication of theenvelope blank and requires only a slight modification to a die shearingedge to conform to the desired shape of the eutout. It will be apparent,however, that envelope blanks prefabricated without the cutout, maylater be modified by a suitable cutting die, or otherwise to make thecutout.

It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the exactmethods and embodiments shown and described, which are merely by way ofillustration and not limitation, as various other methods, forms andmodifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example,a uniform thickness return address printing area could be achieved byaltering the dimensions of bottom flap l8 and cutting out a portion ofeither top flap 20 or left end flap 14. Also, for an envelope of threethicknesses in which the back flap 18 is of one thickness and the samesize as front flap 12, a uniform two thickness area could be formed bycutting out a notch in either the sealing flap 20 or the one piece backflap 18. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims cover allsuch changes and modifications.

What is claimed is:

I. In a conventional envelope of sheet material of the type forming afirst front panel having a. generally rectangular return address area atits upper left corner, an end flap forming a second panel having an areacontiguous and coextensive with said return address area, whereby thefirst and second panels provide a uniform thickness of two sheets ofmaterial throughout said return address area, and a bottom flap, forminga third panel having aportion in its upper left corner, as viewedthrough the front face of the envelope, adjacent said area of saidsecond panel, said third panel forming a third thickness area ofmaterial, the improvement, in combination, comprising:

a cutout in said bottom flap at the locus of said area of said secondpanel, for increasing the return address area of uniform twothicknesses, to permit uniform impression of printed .returnaddressinformation throughout the return address area, and as increased by saidcutout, without use of a shim beneath said second area, and

a top flap having a portion contiguous and-coextensive with said twothicknesses, forming three uniform thicknesses of material in saidreturn address area when the top flap is closed.

2. An envelope in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

said top flap, when closed, overlies and conceals said cutout.

3. An envelope in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

said top flap is generally rectangular. 4. An envelope in accordancewith claim 1 wherein: said bottom flap is generally isosceles trianglein shape with a generally flat apex, said cutout being disposed adjacentone end of said apex. 5

1. In a conventional envelope of sheet material of the type forming afirst front panel having a generally rectangular return address area atits upper left corner, an end flap forming a second panel having an areacontiguous and coextensive with said return address area, whereby thefirSt and second panels provide a uniform thickness of two sheets ofmaterial throughout said return address area, and a bottom flap, forminga third panel having a portion in its upper left corner, as viewedthrough the front face of the envelope, adjacent said area of saidsecond panel, said third panel forming a third thickness area ofmaterial, the improvement, in combination, comprising: a cutout in saidbottom flap at the locus of said area of said second panel, forincreasing the return address area of uniform two thicknesses, to permituniform impression of printed return address information throughout thereturn address area, and as increased by said cutout, without use of ashim beneath said second area, and a top flap having a portioncontiguous and coextensive with said two thicknesses, forming threeuniform thicknesses of material in said return address area when the topflap is closed.
 2. An envelope in accordance with claim 1 wherein: saidtop flap, when closed, overlies and conceals said cutout.
 3. An envelopein accordance with claim 1 wherein: said top flap is generallyrectangular.
 4. An envelope in accordance with claim 1 wherein: saidbottom flap is generally isosceles triangle in shape with a generallyflat apex, said cutout being disposed adjacent one end of said apex.